Good Jobs, Green Jobs: Exploring Opportunities for Newfoundland and Labrador Discussion Paper
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Good Jobs, Green Jobs:
Exploring Opportunities for
Newfoundland and Labrador
Discussion Paper
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour
May 2009Across our country people are talking about the promise of clean energy and a green economy. The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour puts jobs and communities at the heart of this conversation. Lana Payne, President Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour
Acknowledgements
The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL) thanks the Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency for its financial contribution towards the development of this
discussion paper. The paper was prepared by Bruce Pearce for the Federation’s use in
stakeholder consultations across the province during 2009. As we pursue these
consultations, we’d like to thank the Federation’s 65,000 member workers for their input
and engagement as we explore a green jobs strategy that benefits the people and
communities of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We Welcome Your Comments
We encourage your comments regarding this paper and the emerging role of the green
economy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Please share your ideas with us:
Contact: Kerry Murray
Director of Economic and Social Policy
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour
330 Portugal Cove Place
St John's, NL A1B 3P2
T: (709) 754-1660
F: (709) 754-1220
E: kmurray@nlfl.nf.caTable of Contents Contents Purpose / Context of this Paper.............................................................................................. 2 A Vision for the Green Economy ............................................................................................ 3 Welcome to the Green Economy............................................................................................ 4 What are Green Jobs? ........................................................................................................... 8 Green Jobs – Opportunities for Newfoundland and Labrador .............................................. 11 Energy Efficiency - Buildings............................................................................................. 11 Energy Efficiency – Vehicles, Vessels and Fleets............................................................. 11 Smart Grid......................................................................................................................... 12 Renewable Wind, Solar and Ocean Energy...................................................................... 12 Other Energy Generation – Biomass, Peat, Cogeneration................................................ 13 Environmental Conservation ............................................................................................. 13 Policy Principles for Green Jobs Initiatives........................................................................... 15 Moving Towards a Green Economy ..................................................................................... 17 Suggested Directions ........................................................................................................... 20 Questions for Discussion...................................................................................................... 21
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Purpose of this Paper
This paper is designed to provide an introduction to the green economy and green collar
jobs in the context of our changing provincial and global economies, in order to stimulate an
informed discussion among workers, civil society organizations, community organizations
and all levels of government regarding the opportunity for an emerging green jobs strategy
to enhance the economic, social and environmental sustainability of all communities in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Context – Why Green Jobs Now?
While the world’s economies are facing recession (with natural resource and manufacturing
sectors among the hardest hit), leaders in all sectors in Newfoundland and Labrador are
seeking solutions for a sustainable recovery that will provide long-term benefits for the
people of our province. The emergence of the green economy provides a key opportunity to
achieve this goal by generating high-quality, local jobs that cannot be out-sourced, while
addressing a range of public policy and community objectives including greener
infrastructure, poverty reduction, labour market development, education & innovation, youth
retention, rural renewal, and sound stewardship of our environment and natural resources
(including wise use of our vast energy resources).
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the global recession coupled with a resource-dependent
economy have contributed to the closure, cancellation, scaling back or deferral of several
major forestry, mining and petroleum ventures in recent months. While it is hoped that these
initiatives are renewed, there are growing opportunities in the green economy that can add
value to and extend the life of these resources and industries, while providing quality,
sustainable jobs here at home that cannot be out-sourced or down-sized.
Growing these opportunities not only requires supportive public policy, but support from
sectors across the economy willing to seize the opportunities that best suit our province’s
needs. The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL) offers to play a
leadership role in this effort, guided by input from its members and communities across the
province about how we should proceed. This discussion flows from the NLFL’s longstanding
work to promote the interests of workers (both unionized and non-unionized) in labour
standards and relations, health and safety, and workers compensation. The Federation is
also active in advancing social justice and economic development – we believe that the
promise of prosperity can and must be founded on the principle of sharing the wealth with all
people.
As you will see in the following pages, the green economy is coming. It’s taking root in
Europe and North America – spurred by economic stimulus investments coupled with new
energy and environmental policies designed to build more sustainable and inclusive
economies while tackling climate change. Can a ‘green’ wave lift all boats? In
Newfoundland and Labrador, let’s work together to ensure that it does.
2 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
A Vision for the Green Economy
By Van Jones, White House Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
The clean-energy, “green economy” is now exploding into a billion-dollar sector—with more
growth predicted.
But the green economy can do more than create business opportunities and consumer
choices for the rich. It can also create job opportunities for the poor. It can do more than
improve the bottom line for big corporations. It must improve the life prospects for struggling
communities.
The effort to curb global warming and oil dependence can simultaneously create good jobs,
safer streets and healthier communities. That is the chief moral obligation in the 21st
century: to build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
We have the technology. Investors are lining up. The only question is: do we have the
political will to make government support the transition—and the moral commitment to
ensure that the new “green wave” in fact “lifts all boats?”
We have no “throw-away” resources or species. Nor do we have any “throw-away” children.
All of creation is sacred, and all our people are precious. And we must act again as if we
know this truth.
When we do so, our dying blue-collar towns and neighbourhoods will bloom again—as
dignified, “green-collar” meccas. Urban youth, too often fodder for prisons, could instead be
trained to create zero-pollution products, heal the land and harvest the sun. Our country can
be put back to work, rebuilding our cities for the clean-energy future.
We dream of clear skies over our major port cities. Where idling ships once fouled the air,
we see solar-powered energy stations that let docking sea vessels power up cleanly.
We imagine trucks purchasing cleaner bio-diesel blends, to take the fair trade goods off the
ships without polluting the neighbourhood.
We envision eco-industrial parks on land once blighted by prisons. We dream of struggling
cities blossoming as Silicon Valleys of green capital. We dream of a multi-ethnic, grassroots
movement transforming our communities by creating jobs, reducing violence and honouring
the Earth.
Some will call this unrealistic. They will advise us to keep our dreams small. But that
cynicism is the problem, not the solution.
Those communities that were locked out of the last century’s pollution-based economy must
be locked into the new, clean and green economy.1
1
Community Jobs in the Green Economy. Apollo Alliance & Urban Habitat, 2007.
3 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Welcome to the Green Economy
Our economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of our environment.
The statement above is increasingly made by environmentalists and economists alike to
help re-frame the old ‘jobs versus the environment’ discussion from one of competing
interests, towards one of interdependence.
Indeed, the growing weight of scientific and economic analysis points us towards a
fundamental redesign of our economy based on this interdependence – we need to get the
balance right, rather than trade off the environment for jobs. The United Nations’ 2008 paper
on green jobs cites the conclusions of the world’s first comprehensive assessment of the
economics of climate change. The Stern Review, prepared in 2006 by the former Chief
Economist of the World Bank Sir Nicholas Stern, warns that the costs of extreme weather
events could reach 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the middle of the century; a 2 to
3 degree Celsius rise in temperature could reduce global output by 3% - and if temperatures
rise by 5 degrees, up to 10% of global output could be lost. In contrast, stabilizing
greenhouse gas emissions to manageable levels would cost 1% of GDP.
The leading scientific body which advises the world’s governments (the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) identifies a wide range of benefits from taking concerted action
on climate change, including technological innovation, local employment and higher
incomes. In Europe, for example, it notes that a 20% savings in energy consumption can
potentially create up to one million new jobs.2
Organized labour has been a force for positive change in this direction – and where it has
been most successful, it has partnered with other sectors.
In the United States, the Apollo Alliance has brought together labour, business and
environmental leaders in a powerful movement that is reshaping America’s national, state
and local policies to create an economic strategy for prosperity based on clean energy and
good jobs. President Barack Obama is implementing many elements of the ‘New Apollo
Program’ by investing $150 billion to make a down-payment on the green economy.
The New Apollo Program is a comprehensive economic investment strategy
to build America’s 21st century clean energy economy and dramatically cut
energy bills for families and businesses. It will generate and invest $500
billion over the next ten years and create more than five million high
quality green collar jobs. It will accelerate the development of the nation’s
vast clean energy resources and move us toward energy security, climate
2
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report – Report of the Working Group on Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and
Vulnerability, 2007.
4 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
stability, and economic prosperity. And it will transform America into the
global leader of the new green economy.3
The White House Task Force on the Middle Class established by President Obama is
focusing on green jobs as it pursues its mandate to highlight and implement solutions to the
economic challenges facing the American middle class. These solutions must also provide
green career pathways out of poverty for those who have been excluded from the labour
market. According to Apollo Alliance chair Phil Angelides, the quality of a green job must be
emphasized: “it has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be
part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution
and benefit the environment.”4
In Canada, the United Steelworkers union is partnering with Environmental Defence to
create Blue Green Canada, a new alliance which aims to build a movement similar to the
Apollo Alliance and its American cousin, the Blue-Green Alliance.
Through a similar regional alliance, the Alberta Federation of Labour has partnered with
environmental groups in announcing a ground-breaking new strategy - Green Jobs: It’s Time
to Build Alberta’s Future – released in April 2009. The paper notes that Alberta’s economy is
rapidly shedding jobs, but states “there is good news, especially for the many Alberta
workers who have recently been laid off: Alberta can create tens of thousands of green jobs
right away.”
The Alberta strategy goes on to lay out green jobs opportunities in three key sectors: energy
efficiency, renewable energy and transit/high-speed rail, proposing a stimulus investment of
$4.4-5.4 billion to create 35,000-42,000 jobs over the next two years, followed by
investments of $6.9 billion in years 3-7 generating a further 20,000-32,000 jobs. The Alberta
strategy would be financed in part by redeploying existing public spending on oil and gas
and carbon sequestration (of the 56 sectors in Alberta, oil and gas extraction create the
fewest jobs per dollar spent: only 3.5 jobs per million dollars spent - compared with energy
efficiency, which produces 216 jobs, and transit, which produces 25 jobs – per million dollars
spent).5
The 2009 Ontario budget signals a move towards a green economy – making a direct link
between green jobs and the province’s hopes for sustainable, economic renewal. Aside from
Alberta’s, Ontario’s economy has been among the hardest hit in Canada by the recession.
Ontario’s new Green Energy and Green Economy Act (2009) is, according to Premier
McGuinty, one of the most comprehensive energy policies in the world. The proposed
legislation will lead the transition to a cleaner, greener economy and support the creation of
an estimated 50,000 jobs in the first three years.
3
The New Apollo Program: Clean Energy, Good Jobs. An Economic Strategy for American Prosperity. The
Apollo Alliance, September 2008. www.apolloalliance.org.
4
Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class. Middle Class Task Force Staff Report – The Vice President
of the United States. February 2009.
5
Green Jobs: It’s Time Build Alberta’s Future, by David Thompson. Alberta Federation of Labour, Sierra
Club Prairie, Greenpeace. April 2009.
5 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
In Newfoundland and Labrador, there is likewise a growing opportunity to harness our
province’s public policies and investments - on climate change, sustainable development,
energy, education, employment, innovation, infrastructure, housing, poverty reduction, rural
renewal and youth retention - to a new ‘green jobs labour market’ strategy that will foster
sustainable, quality jobs in communities across the province.
Newfoundland and Labrador introduced a Climate Change Action Plan in 2005 and an
Energy Plan in 2007 which provide key opportunities to foster the basis of a green economy.
Economic stimulus investments provide a further means to ramp up these commitments.
And the 2009 transfer of federal labour market funds to the provincial government provides
resources and tools for the necessary workforce strategies.
While the climate action plan lacks provincial greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction
targets or timelines, it is tied to a regional climate accord of the New England Governors and
Eastern Canadian Premiers to bring emissions 10 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 (this
is merely a starting point, as the regional plan notes that “emissions must be reduced to
levels that no longer pose a dangerous threat to the climate. The best science available at
present indicates that attaining this goal will require reductions in GHG emissions of
approximately 75–85% below current levels.”)6
The 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador Energy Plan includes “sustainability” as its first
principle, and “environmental leadership” as its first goal, pledging to invest oil and gas
revenues in the province’s future, including renewable energy and energy efficiency
(subsequent budgets have indeed made new investments in these areas). The Plan’s
commitments for professional and skilled workers centre around implementation of the
recommendations of the Skills Task Force on “current and future energy projects”.
While the Energy Plan does not specifically mention green jobs in the wider green economy,
this is a subject that has attracted growing interest since the Plan was first announced, and
there may be interest within government to explore these opportunities further.
In February 2009, a delegation from Newfoundland and Labrador attended the Good Jobs,
Green Jobs Conference hosted by the Blue Green Alliance in Washington, DC. More than
2,500 delegates participated from business, labour, governments, environmental and
community groups. Days later, the US government announced $150 billion in new
investments in the green economy – weatherizing homes and businesses, upgrading
transmission lines, greening public infrastructure, expanding transit and high-speed rail,
creating renewable clean energy, manufacturing the products needed for the green
economy, and investing in workforce strategies to ensure skilled, high quality jobs for the
country’s future prosperity. The Newfoundland and Labrador delegates left the conference
inspired and committed to exploring related opportunities for our province.7
6
New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Change Action Plan, 2001.
7
NL delegates: NL Federation of Labour, College of the North Atlantic, Carpenters and Millwrights College,
Conservation Corps NL, Choices for Youth, Stella Burry Community Services. www.greenjobsconference.org.
6 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
In economies everywhere, the link is finally being made between good jobs, clean energy
and the environment. What were once modest, even timid, public and private investments in
these areas are now being scaled up dramatically, tied to greater expectations and greater
results. Indeed, these plans have moved from the periphery to occupy the central ground of
economic policy in many jurisdictions, most notably the United States and Europe.
Moreover, Canada may face increasing pressure to align with the US on its new green
plans. For example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be forced to drop his government’s
controversial ‘intensity-based’ approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid
having to pay US border duties under pending climate change legislation now before
Congress, supported by President Obama. The American legislation will set strict limits on
the amount of greenhouse gases industries are allowed to emit – a sharp departure from the
Bush Administration’s policy. Ottawa’s plan is in stark contrast with the new US approach, as
it would allow companies to cut their carbon emissions in relation to their output rather than
to specified levels.8
Green economy plans appear to be garnering growing public support and engaging broad-
based constituencies as they gather momentum. They are populist strategies that people
seem to desire. They are no longer the exclusive domain of green energy experts or a
‘green elite’. They are a genuine expression of a shift in societal values. And to be
successful, they are designed to engage everyone and share benefits widely.
This is a useful context in which to develop a strategy to maximize Newfoundland and
Labrador’s opportunities to create sustainable, green jobs. It cannot be a ‘flash in the pan’
exercise or a fad. We know it can be something much more transformative and enduring. If
we explore the realistic potential for green jobs in each of our communities and across all of
our province’s economic sectors, and if we nurture these opportunities with real public
engagement in shaping the public policies and private actions needed to stimulate and
sustain quality, green jobs, then we will be on the transformative path now being taken by
jurisdictions across North America and Europe. And we will be doing it in a way that makes
the most sense for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
8
Ottawa faces pressure to align with US on green plans. Shawn McCarthy. The Globe and Mail, April 9, 2009.
7 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
What are Green Jobs?
Green jobs are a broad term that casts a wide net over the emerging green economy.
In its broadest sense, green jobs is not a useful term for policy innovation or workforce
training – for it to be meaningful, the term must be distilled further to specific sectors,
economies and places. Leading green industries include energy efficiency and renewable
energy – and since all sectors of our economy consume (and can potentially generate)
energy, there are also widespread green jobs opportunities across these other sectors, too.
While there is no official or even widely-accepted definition of what constitutes a green job,
this is not necessarily a disadvantage as we seek to get a “lay of the land”.
Van Jones, the author of the 2008 New York Times best-seller, The Green-Collar Economy,
offers the following definition:
Family-supporting, career-track, vocational, or trade-level employment in
environmentally-friendly fields. Examples: electricians who install solar
panels; plumbers who install solar hot water heaters; farmers engaged in
organic agriculture and some bio-fuel production; and construction workers
who build energy-efficient green buildings, wind power farms, solar farms, and
wave energy farms.
Until his recent appointment by President Obama as White House Special Advisor for Green
Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Van Jones served on the Board of the Apollo Alliance and
led the fledgling national organization, Green for All, which seeks to ensure that the green
economy is inclusive and strong enough to lift people out of poverty. For Jones and many
like him, the green economy will fall short if it does not provide equal access to good jobs,
particularly for those who have been excluded from the labour force.
The United Nations’ 2008 Background Paper on Green Jobs offers the following definition:
Green jobs help protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity, reduce
energy consumption, de-carbonize the economy, and minimize or altogether
avoid the generation of all forms of waste and pollution.
The UN paper states that a successful strategy to green the economy involves
environmental and social full-cost pricing of energy and materials to discourage
unsustainable practices. A green economy values both nature and people and creates
decent and adequate paid jobs. While greater efficiency in the use of energy, water, and
materials is a core objective, the critical question is where to draw the line between efficient
and inefficient practices? A low threshold will define a greater number of jobs green, but may
yield an illusion of progress. Over time, given the urgency of the need to act on climate
change and provide sustainable jobs, the line must be raised.9
9
United Nations Environment Programme – Background Paper on Green Jobs, 2008.
8 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
The term green jobs is, therefore, relative and highly dynamic – we must recognize this and
acknowledge that there will be “shades of green” in employment.
Who will work in green jobs - and how can we build the career ladders for the green
economy? The answer may surprise you.
Greener Pathways, a US roadmap for green jobs and workforce development, asserts that
“the new energy economy will be built and sustained by middle class workers in traditional
occupations. Indeed, many skills of the greener future are closely related to the skills of
today. We do not need to start from scratch.”10
The roadmap suggests that more energy should be spent embedding green skills training
within the current curricula, and less energy inventing new programs. It is true that the new
energy economy will create some brand new industries and many brand new jobs. But more
of it will involve transforming the industries and jobs we already have, the authors argue.
For example, retrofitting Newfoundland and Labrador’s existing buildings does not require
“green construction workers”, but rather workers with traditional construction skills who also
have up-to-date training on energy-efficient construction. Leo Gerard, international president
of the United Steel Workers, says a green job is a blue-collar job that serves a green
purpose.11
The phrase “green jobs” has been transformed from a vocational option for a small
number of ecological specialists to a vision for the future of virtually the entire
economy. It can now be argued that nearly every job has the potential to become a
green job or at least to be transformed through the rise of the clean energy
economy.12
To achieve this outcome, the most efficient and effective way to prepare a green-collar
workforce is to build on the existing foundation of provincial and local workforce
development systems. These systems must be backed by reinforcing public policies that
drive energy efficiency and renewable energy, resource conservation and pollution
reduction/prevention, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
A practical example of this approach is provided by the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), the largest building service workers union in the US, which represents
thousands of cleaners, doormen, porters, maintenance workers, window cleaners,
superintendents, theatre and stadium workers. In 2005, the SEIU added green buildings and
energy efficiency to its training programs for members, recognizing that the manner in which
they perform their work can directly impact the environment.
10
Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy. Sarah White & Jason
Walsh. The Centre on Wisconsin Strategy, the Workforce Alliance and the Apollo Alliance. 2008.
11
Presentation to the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. Leo Gerard, International President,
United Steel Workers. Philadelphia, PA. February 2009.
12
High Road or Low Road: Job Quality in the New Green Economy. Philip Mattera, Good Jobs First. 2009.
9 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
For their part, New York’s state and local governments adopted plans in 2007 to cut carbon
emissions by 30% by 2030, and approved bills and stimulus investments in 2009 to retrofit
buildings, boosting demand for the SEIU’s skilled members. These public policy
developments go hand in hand with workforce strategies to deliver on the promise of a
greener economy.13
A number of studies have pointed to the fact that, overall, green jobs are good jobs. That is,
they pay more – by 10 to 20 per cent (depending on the definition) – than other jobs. And
they are more likely to be union jobs than other jobs.14
Green jobs also offer pathways out of poverty. This is a critical consideration for
communities struggling against high poverty rates and structural unemployment, including
those here in Newfoundland and Labrador. In her 2007 case study of Berkeley, California,
professor Raquel Pinderhughes found that poverty and unemployment are significant
problems in the community – “there is an urgent need for a new source of living wage jobs
for low income residents with barriers to employment – a population that includes youth and
adults who do not have a high school degree, have been out of the labour market for a long
time, were formerly incarcerated, and have limited education and/or labour market skills.”15
The Berkeley study found that green collar jobs represent an important new category of
workforce opportunities because they are relatively high quality jobs, with relatively low
barriers to entry, in sectors that are poised for dramatic growth. “Green collar jobs provide
workers with meaningful, community serving work, living wages, benefits, and advancement
opportunities.”16
Green jobs also tend to be more widely distributed throughout regions – that is, they are
more community-based and clustered in areas where the needs are greatest. This feature
would have appeal in Newfoundland and Labrador. “Green jobs are spread across the land.
They are located in rural areas and urban areas. They are smaller and more evenly
distributed than mega-projects, and they enable workers to stay with their families and live in
their communities.”17
The following section of this discussion paper identifies some representative jobs in key
sectors of the emerging green economy.
13
The Building Service 32BJ Thomas Shortman Training Program – SEIU. 2009.
14
Green Jobs: A Pathway to a Strong Middle Class. Middle Class Task Force Staff Report – The Vice President
of the United States. February 2009.
15
Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Businesses to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men
and Women with Barriers to Employment. Raquel Pinderhughes, Ph.D. San Francisco State University, 2007.
16
Ibid.
17
Green Jobs: It’s Time Build Alberta’s Future, by David Thompson. Alberta Federation of Labour, Sierra
Club Prairie, Greenpeace. April 2009.
10 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Green Jobs – Opportunities for Newfoundland and Labrador
The following are just a few of the representative green jobs activities in key sectors,
including a brief overview of potential opportunities for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Strategies for Green Representative Jobs
Economy Investment
Building Retrofitting Energy Advisors/Auditors, Electricians, Heating & Ventilation
Installers, Carpenters, Construction Equipment Operators, Roofers,
Insulation Workers, Carpenter Helpers, Industrial Truck Drivers,
Construction Managers, Building Inspectors, Plumbers
Efficient Vehicles/Vessels Engineers, Electricians, Welders, Metal Fabricators, Engine
Assemblers, Bus Drivers, Dispatchers
Smart Grid Computer Software Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Electrical
Equipment Assemblers, Electrical Equipment Technicians,
Machinists, Team Assemblers, Construction Labourers, Operating
Engineers, Electrical Power Line Installers and Repairers
Wind Energy Environmental Engineers, Iron and Steel Workers, Millwrights,
Sheet Metal Workers, Machinists, Electrical Equipment Assemblers,
Construction Equipment Operators, Industrial Truck Drivers,
Industrial Production Managers, First-Line Production Supervisors
Solar/Ocean Energy Electrical Engineers, Electricians, Industrial Machinery Mechanics,
Welders, Metal Fabricators, Electrical Equipment Assemblers,
Construction Equipment Operators, Installation Helpers,
Labourers, Construction Managers
From: Green Recovery. Pollin, Garrett-Peltier, Heintz and Scharber.
Energy Efficiency Buildings
Energy efficiency projects are a huge win for local communities, from both an environmental
and a jobs perspective – they extend the life of our energy resources, cut energy costs by
30% on average, and keep energy savings in the local economy. Incorporating energy
efficiency concepts into new building design and construction and retrofits of existing
buildings can reduce energy use – and energy bills – significantly. It also creates jobs in
energy efficient product manufacturing and installation, as well as general construction jobs.
Energy efficiency retrofit jobs include: auditing energy use in existing buildings,
manufacturing materials and devices, installing efficient lighting, heating and ventilation
systems, appliances, water-saving fixtures, windows, insulation and air-sealing.
Energy Efficiency – Vehicles, Vessels and Fleets
Transportation in Newfoundland and Labrador is one of our biggest sources of greenhouse
gas emissions, and efforts to curb these emissions and share the benefits of reduced fuel
11 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
costs with consumers and fleet operators can translate into green jobs. These jobs include
the sale of fuel-efficient vehicles, the installation of efficiency measures, and repair and
maintenance of energy efficient vehicles, vessels and fleets.
Smart Grid
A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save
energy, reduce cost and increase reliability. Such a modernized electricity network is being
promoted by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence or global
warming issues. Smart grids will provide jobs for software engineers, computer scientists,
equipment installers and testers, line workers, technicians, contractors, project managers
and hardware manufacturers.
Renewable Wind, Solar and Ocean Energy
According to Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2007 Energy Plan, the amount of wind energy
that can be generated into the current Island distribution system is approximately 80
Megawatts (MW). Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has already awarded contracts to
supply 51 MW of wind energy. Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale notes that
Labrador offers even greater wind energy potential: "In addition to the wind on the island, we
also commenced a monitoring program in Labrador…to determine a more accurate estimate
of the wind potential in that region. Conservative estimates would suggest that we have in
the area of 5,000 MW of wind energy capacity in Labrador, so we will certainly be working
diligently to strategically develop that clean, renewable energy source in the future."
With its extensive coastlines and access to three different oceans, Canada is exceptionally
rich in tidal current and wave energy resources. Recognizing the potential of such capacity,
the industry, academia and governments are joining their efforts to ensure that Canada
becomes a world leader in providing ocean energy solutions. The ocean holds enough
energy sources to meet current global energy consumption levels. There are many forms of
ocean energy, including two of the most promising for commercial development: tidal and
wave energy. Canada became active in the ocean energy field when it constructed the
20 MW tidal energy plant at Annapolis Royal, on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The plant,
one of the first of its kind, has been in operation since 1984 and is the only one of its kind in
North America.
The solar energy resource in Labrador is approximately 4.0 kilowatt hours per square metre,
while the Island’s resource is 3.555 kWh/m². This compares with New Brunswick’s solar
energy resource, which is the highest among Atlantic provinces, at 4.191 kWh/m².18 Solar
energy is increasingly used in many applications in our province – from automated
lighthouses to domestic water heating.
18
Deploying Solar Energy in Atlantic Canada: Decision Support Tools. Dr. Alexandre Pavlovski, P. Eng. Nova
Scotia’s Energy Research and Development Forum St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS. May 25th,
2006.
12 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Other Energy Generation – Biomass, Peat, Cogeneration
Before the recent economic recession, forest biomass had grown to be one of the major
sources of energy in Atlantic Canada, providing 16% of total energy needs (National Energy
Board). This process converts waste wood to energy. The development of this energy
resource is affected by the closure of pulp and paper operations which supply biomass.
While peat-lands have never played a significant in supplying energy needs in
Newfoundland and Labrador, there have been small quantities harvested for home heating
and industrial uses.
In 2008, Peat Resources Limited completed design and construction of a small-scale
production facility for peat fuel pellets in Stephenville. The facility went into operation in
October 2008. After producing peat fuel pellets in November-December, the facility
underwent modifications and improvements to effect greater energy and production
efficiency. The facility will be operated during 2009 to produce peat fuel pellets for various
combustion and marketing trials. For example, a 500 tonne bulk shipment has been
requested for a peat co-firing trial at Ontario Power Generation's Atikokan station - one of
four OPG facilities that the Ontario government has legislated must cease coal-burning by
2014. Discussions are ongoing with other energy utilities in eastern North America regarding
large volume usage of peat fuel and with parties considering home heating applications.
Environmental Conservation
There are many other occupations that serve to reduce our impact on the environment.
Green jobs that help protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity already exist in
Newfoundland and Labrador, and include those working in conservation, environmental
sciences, outdoor and environmental education, as well as environmental law, policy and
regulation.
People working in parks and open space maintenance and expansion, sustainable
landscaping, organic or sustainable rural and urban agriculture and food production, re-use
of construction materials, solid waste recycling and green waste composting, non-toxic
cleaning, and non-toxic printing – all contribute to a greener economy.
As policies and markets grow to shape the green economy, so too will the demand for these
jobs. The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour is interested in the potential for
green jobs to reduce poverty. For workers with barriers to employment, research shows that
placements in green collar jobs can be an effective way to provide low income people with
access to good jobs that can lift them out of poverty. The following chart shows the career
ladders offered by the green businesses surveyed in the US research cited below.
13 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Green Collar Jobs Are Community Serving Work Force Opportunities19
Types of Services Types of Entry Level
Green Business More Advanced
Providing Green Collar Green Collar Jobs
Sector Green Collar Work
Jobs Currently Available
Energy Retrofits
Energy Partner
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Customer Service,
Journeyman
Conditioning) Evaluation, Installation,
Energy Solar Electrician
Solar Installation Construction, Maintenance,
Service Technician
Water Conservation Repair
Project Manager
Whole Home Performance
Water Conservation Installation, Construction, Journeyman
Water
Adaptive Grey Water Reuse Maintenance, Repair Project Manager
Construction Demolition & Construction, Carpentry General Contractor
Green Building
Removal Demolition, Hauling, Driving Project Manager
Custom architecture, Assembly, Sanding, Finishing, Journeyman
Woodworking
cabinetry, furniture, repairs Carpentry, Installation Head Carpenter
Parks & Open Space Planting, Maintenance Project Manager
Green Space
Landscaping Tree Cutting/Pruning Head Gardener
Urban Agriculture Growing, Packaging, Delivery Production Manager
Farmers’ Markets Set-up/Tear-down, Selling Market Manager
Food
Specialty Foods Production Brewing, Roasting, Packaging Floor Manager
Baking Baking, Mixing, Cleaning Head Baker
Bicycle Delivery Dispatch and Delivery Messenger/Owner
Bicycle Repair Assembly and Repair Shop Manager
Transportation
Bio-Diesel/Veggie Fuels Fuel Production, Distribution Production Manager
Public Transportation Driving, Maintenance, Repair Head Mechanic
Non-Toxic Printing Commercial Printing Services Binding, Post-Press, Delivery Press Op, Pre-Press
Residential & Commercial
Non-Toxic Cleaning Cleaning, Customer Service Team Leader
Cleaning
Collection, Sorting, Driving,
Waste Stream Materials Recycling, Loading, Salvaging, Warehouse Manager,
Diversion Materials Re-use Warehouse, Packaging and Floor/Department
Composting
19
Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Businesses to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men
and Women with Barriers to Employment. Raquel Pinderhughes, Ph.D. San Francisco State University, 2007.
14 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Policy Principles for Green Jobs Initiatives
We cannot depend solely on the benevolence of green employers or the mechanisms of the
labour market to provide the kind of quality green jobs the clean energy economy should be
creating. Intervention by governments and labour alongside communities will be necessary
to make sure green jobs are good jobs.
There is also a growing recognition by governments that the mere creation of jobs is not
adequate: those positions have to be of high quality to be a true boon to the economy. This
is especially true for jobs stimulated by public investments.
Good Jobs First – a coalition that brings together the Labourers International Union of North
America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sierra Club and Change to Win –
assessed job quality in the new green economy in its 2009 report High Road or Low Road,
and concludes:
The fact that an employer is engaged in a business that benefits the environment
does not necessarily mean that the employees of that enterprise are going to be
treated well. While some green companies are model employers, others pay their
workers too little and offer them inadequate benefits. In short, the green economy
is not always the humane economy.20
Therefore, a set of guiding principles and policy options should underpin the development of
green jobs strategies to ensure that good jobs are the result.
The Apollo Alliance offers the following set of guiding principles:
• Ensure equal opportunity by providing pathways out of poverty and into green-
collar career tracks for underserved people.
• Provide a level playing field for energy-intensive industries so carbon regulation
does not inadvertently drive jobs to countries with weaker environmental and labour
standards.
• Ensure regional equity for the parts of the country most dependent on extracting
and using fossil fuels and therefore most likely to suffer worker, community, and
industrial dislocations in a new energy economy.
• Respect the dignity of work by ensuring that we maintain long-held commitments to
wage standards and strong labour protection whenever public dollars are invested in
the new energy economy.21
20
High Road or Low Road: Job Quality in the New Green Economy. Philip Mattera, Good Jobs First. 2009.
21
The New Apollo Program: Clean Energy, Good Jobs. An Economic Strategy for American Prosperity. The
Apollo Alliance, September 2008. www.apolloalliance.org.
15 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
For green jobs stimulated by public investments, Good Jobs First recommends that job
quality standards be used in contracts – drawing from the following menu of options:
• Attach self-sufficiency wage requirements to subsidies
• Apply wage standards to government contractors
• Strengthen prevailing wage requirements
• Adopt best value contracting
• Expand the use of project labour agreements
• Add labour criteria to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
standards
• Build community campaigns
• Promote community benefit agreements
• Use claw backs to enforce job quality standards
• Use web-based disclosure
• Use domestic sourcing
These are proven ways to prevent workplace abuses, and are recommended as
cornerstones for a green prosperity that is shared by all. A more detailed description of these
tools is contained in the Good Jobs First report.22
According to Greener Pathways, governments must make every effort to intentionally direct
the transition from a petro- to a green economy. Green economic and workforce
development efforts should aim to:
• Spur regional, sector-based economic development that is locally-sustainable and
designed to promote broad-based community development, including the creation of
family-supporting jobs with decent benefits
• Invest in the workforce intermediaries and labour market institutions that can
best guide such development, bringing all players – labour, industry, education,
government, and community – to the table and locating all efforts in data-driven
strategies; and
• Develop demand-driven career pathways to ensure that prospective and
incumbent workers have clear and accessible training paths to better jobs with higher
wages and benefits, and the least fortunate among us have unobstructed pathways
out of poverty.23
22
High Road or Low Road: Job Quality in the New Green Economy. Philip Mattera, Good Jobs First. 2009.
23
Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy. Sarah White & Jason
Walsh. The Centre on Wisconsin Strategy, the Workforce Alliance and the Apollo Alliance. 2008.
16 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Moving Towards a Green Economy
The following workforce development policy framework was developed for Greener
Pathways to guide US state governments in moving forward with green jobs strategies. The
policy framework also provides useful guidance for emerging Canadian strategies, so we
have presented it here for your consideration24:
1. Define and target specific green jobs
Any green jobs initiative will need to identify the green jobs on which to focus. Without
definition — a list of green industries and/or a list of high-demand occupations — initiatives
will be too diffuse and success impossible to determine.
Definition and focus can be established by the province, or determined by local stakeholders
within parameters prescribed by current labour market information. Targets might be
identified as key occupations that directly respond to climate action plans, or occupations
that support the development of new green industry. But remember, there is an enormous
range of green industry — from clean tech to renewables and efficiency, to alternative fuels,
and beyond. And cutting across these industries, there is research, manufacturing,
construction, maintenance, and many other sectors.
Provinces need to determine their comparative advantage, focus their initiatives on clusters
that make most sense for a particular region, and use that to guide tightly focused workforce
development efforts, keeping in mind not only the economic, but the political dimensions of
green jobs.
2. Use good data to drive green jobs initiatives
When targets are defined, the work is just beginning. Successful workforce and economic
development demands detailed labour market analysis. Provinces need to understand
targeted green industries at the level of regional economies: what are the occupations, wage
and benefit structures, and projected job growth? What are the education and skills
requirements of these jobs? Further, they need to evaluate the employment and training
delivery system at a regional level, identifying training gaps for identified jobs, curriculum
development needs, and potential pathways in green careers.
3. Plan up front to measure green jobs programs and make them better
Green job training is new. We need to figure out what works and what does not. And
because demonstrated results build both economic success and political credibility,
provinces need to build meaningful performance measures and a serious evaluation
component into every green jobs initiative.
24
Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy. Sarah White & Jason
Walsh. The Centre on Wisconsin Strategy, the Workforce Alliance and the Apollo Alliance. 2008.
17 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
4. Employ energy standards as green job creation tools
Standards are fundamental to the orderly development of markets for renewable energy and
energy efficiency industries. But they cannot single-handedly promote the development of
regional green economies, or offer any guarantee of job quality. To nurture the creation of
sustainable, high-road jobs, provinces need to pursue the sort of intentional growth
strategies outlined below.
5. Maximize green and community benefits by requiring them
The prevailing provincial economic development strategy of firm-by-firm recruitment is well
under way for green industries, and it seems unlikely that this policy approach will go away
anytime soon. But tax subsidies for new energy industries should be connected to prevailing
wage/benefit, job creation, and other labour standards; linked to community benefit
agreement provisions, like first-source hiring and funded apprenticeship programs; and
contingent on transparency and reporting requirements, with claw-back agreements if
necessary.
6. Promote green industry clusters
Beyond subsidies and smokestacks, a complete green jobs strategy will employ a broad
range of economic development levers: venture capital funds, business incubators, and
loans or grants targeting clean energy clusters. Clusters, as opposed to individual firms, will
be the engine of 21st-century economic growth. Provinces can help generate “virtuous
circles” of innovation and growth by supporting networks of complementary and competing
firms through investments in joint marketing, the commercialization and diffusion of new
technologies, and workforce training partnerships.
7. Save existing jobs and create new ones through green innovation
Not all green jobs are new jobs, per se. Current jobs can be saved, and new ones created,
by helping industries retool for the new energy economy. Manufacturing conversion
underlies a key aspiration of the new energy economy: revitalizing the industrial heartland in
a manner both equitable and green, re-extending its promise of worker advancement while
reversing its legacy of environmental degradation. Supply chains in declining industries can
be realigned to feed green ones. Provinces will need to partner with labour and local
intermediaries to determine an appropriate role in this transformation.
8. Link green economic and workforce development
As local leaders step forward to champion green jobs and green economies, it is critical that
provinces develop concrete plans to connect the two. Worker training programs for
renewable energy and energy efficiency industries must be explicitly linked to economic
development and job creation programs. The danger is that communities will rush to create
green workforce development programs, producing skilled workers for jobs that do not yet
exist in sufficient number or permanence. A green career pathway has a job at the end of
the road.
18 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
9. Construct green industry partnerships
Green jobs initiatives should create or expand on regional partnerships organized by
industry sector. Including management and labour, technical colleges, workforce investment
boards, community-based organizations, and economic development agencies, such
partnerships can undertake infrastructure and market analyses critical to green industry
development and, at the level of regional labour markets, the sorts of workforce capacity
analysis called for above. Indeed, green-sector partnerships will be critical in directing
scarce training resources to efficiently narrow the substantial and growing gaps between
workforce supply and workforce demand.
10. Integrate green jobs initiatives into existing workforce systems
Just as green jobs programs must take close note of the particular economic landscape they
inhabit, it is essential that green-collar job training initiatives not develop as stand-alone,
“boutique” programs divorced from broader workforce development efforts. The best way to
prepare a green-collar workforce is to build on the full breadth of the provincial and local
workforce development system through partnerships that leverage and align existing
employment and training programs and resources toward green job ends.
11. Build greener career pathways
Working through the industry partnerships mentioned above, green workforce development
should seek to develop career pathways — or add green skills to existing ones — whenever
possible. Green jobs programs should support workers entering the industry with basic skills,
but also serve workers at any stage in their career, helping them advance in pay and skills.
This systemic framework is called career ladders or career pathways and, when fully
realized, it allows workers with relatively low skills to combine work and learning in an
accessible path upward to secure and sustainable employment.
12. Extend green ladders to build real pathways out of poverty
When greening career pathways, provinces should focus explicitly, though not exclusively,
on first steps and early bridges from basic skills to better paying jobs. Indeed, an anti-
poverty emphasis should be central to any provincial green jobs initiative — one that
includes the un- and under-employed, the poor who are dissociated from labour markets,
and incumbent low wage workers in need of advancement. This is a high-road approach, at
once just and instrumental. Given the nation’s persistent economic inequities, some portion
of limited funds should be targeted to those who need assistance the most.
19 Good Jobs Green JobsNewfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour 2009
Suggested Directions
Public interest and discussion about green jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador is growing –
yet our collective knowledge and understanding of the green economy and its potential role
for our workers and communities (opportunities, benefits, and challenges) is still limited. The
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour prepared this discussion paper to build
our understanding of the emerging green economy so that we can engage in a discussion
with members and other stakeholders about the merits of developing a green jobs strategy
for our province. In doing so, we know there is more work to be done:
1. As a next step, we will seek input from our members and other organizations to guide
our actions in this area.
Organized labour in other Canadian and US jurisdictions has been a leader in shaping the
green economy to ensure that it fosters quality jobs and sustainable communities.
Recognizing this fact, and acknowledging that there is an opportunity to better understand
and position ourselves for green jobs here at home:
2. We further recommend that the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour be
a catalyst in forming a multi-stakeholder Green Jobs Task Force to develop a green
jobs workforce development strategy that supports the workers and the people of our
province.
The proposed Newfoundland and Labrador task force draws from the State of Minnesota’s
successful Green Jobs Task Force, which has actively engaged labour in developing a
groundbreaking green jobs strategy for this northern US state which is already generating
positive results. (Visit www.mngreenjobs.com for more information). As an early step related
to the establishment of a Green Jobs Task Force:
3. We recommend that a Green Jobs Summit be convened here in Newfoundland and
Labrador – to draw upon the experience and knowledge of our people, and to learn
from other Canadian and US jurisdictions that are well down the road with their green
jobs strategies. Such a summit would act as a catalyst to help mobilize the necessary
knowledge, partnerships, and action to move our province down a green path of our
own making.
Finally, in recognition that energy efficiency is a leading green jobs opportunity in our
province:
4. We recommend that the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour seek
membership in the Energy Conservation and Efficiency Partnership (ECEP)
announced in Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2007 Energy Plan. The ECEP will
develop a coordinated, prioritized, 5-year Energy Conservation and Efficiency Plan –
and the $5 million ECEP fund will assist with energy conservation and efficiency
initiatives.
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